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Resources on Careers in Chemical Information

Blog (top)

The CINF Careers Committee has started a new blog with up-to-date information on alternative careers. Recent posts include "Making Transitions Easier", "Technology Transfer", and "How I Got Here". If you have any interest in finding out what other chemists do, or sharing your story and comments with others, this is the blog for you. Join the conversation, and help scientists find careers they love!

The blog is available at http://altchemcareers.wordpress.com.

Books (top)

Nontraditional careers for chemists: new formulas in chemistry. 2006. Lisa M. Balbes. Oxford University Press. Table of Contents
Check out Chapter Two on "Chemistry and Chemical Information". Additional information is available at the U.S. OUP site.
Career Management for Scientists and Engineers. 2000. John K. Borchardt. American Chemical Society/Oxford University Press.

"I recommend this book to all who are -- or want to be -- in a scientific or technical career." -- Bob Buntrock (a leader in chemical information)
Careers for Chemists: A World Outside the Lab. 1997. Fred Owens, Roger Uhler, and Corinne A. Marasco. American Chemical Society.
This book, which describes 22 different types of alternative careers for chemists, includes a chapter on various chemical information careers.

Journal Articles (top)

Dealing with Data Deluge: Chemical informatics professionals help scientists cope with and benefit from information overload.. Sarah Everts. Chemical and Engineering News, 84(29): 93-94, 96, July 17th 2006. Freely available online.
Career View - Science Librarians.. Becky Ham. Chemistry, Winter 2003. Availablie online.
Preparing for Careers in Information Science. John K. Borchardt. The Alchemist, Sept. 4, 2002.
A Careers in Chemical Information Workshop. Bruce Slutsky. Journal of Chemical Education, Volume 68 Number 1 (Jan. 1991), pages 43-45. Available online to subscribers.

Web Articles (top)

Careers in Chemical Information: It's not Just Literature Searching Anymore. Lisa M. Balbes.
Thoughts on the differences between a corporate and an academic library. Casey Duevel. ACS Livewire Newsletter 7(11), November 2006.
Chemical Information is: managing technical information, working with computers and applying research techniques, working with people, a career outside the lab. Anonymous.
This article is also available in PDF format. Your following this sequence of steps will not only lead you to this article, but will also introduce you to the many career service aids that the American Chemical Society has to offer:
1. Go to: chemistry.org
2. In the "Choose a Page" pulldown on the left of the screen, select; Careers & Jobs.
3. Click on ACS Career Services.
4. On the left side of the screen, click on Career Resources.
5. Click on Chemical Careers in Brief.
6. Click on Chemical Information Specialists.
Careers in Chemistry (or is that Chem Diploma Worth Anything?).Bob Buntrock.

Presentations (top)

Making the Transition from Special to Academic Librarianship. Phil Barnett. Presented at the Division of Chemical Information Division session on Careers in Chemical Information at the 220th American Chemical Society National Meeting, Washington, D.C., Aug. 21, 2000. While this talk is primarily aimed at information specialists working in industry, it describes what is like to work in various kinds of academic.
Careers in Chemical Information and Science Librarianship. Phil Barnet. Presented to the Younger Chemists Committee at the 208th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., August 22, 1994.

Links (top)

Related to careers in chemical information are careers in patents. The Patent Information Users Group, Inc. (PIUG), the International Society for Patent Information is a not-for-profit organization for individuals having a professional, scientific or technical interest in patent information.

Wiki Pages (top)

From Indiana University:

Chemical Information Sources Wiki at Indiana University
Selected Internet Resources for Chemistry Wiki at Indiana University

Site originally created by Phil Barnett and maintained by Beth Thomsett-Scott for the CINF Careers Committee. Subsequent modifications by Rick Williams, CINF Webmaster.
Last updated Thursday, August 06, 2009